Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-03-09
WASHINGTON GOSSIP ON con-
GRESSIONAL SHORTCOMINGS.
PardOns Granted and Refused Indian
Reservation Ceded-Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher at Deaths Door, Etc.


IOOn1ereeS. This section authorizes an Ad
virsory Board to make a contract will
responsible steel manufacturers for the sup
: : ply OF one thousand tons Of gun steel, sub
. ject to test and inspection at ever,
stage, and appropriated $6,0o0,OOt
: for it's purchase. A correspondent,
? provision made by the House conferee
:. was contained in section of their bill
This section appropriated like sum o
+ $6, ,OOO, 900 for purchase of steel, but will
|. the proviso that only so much should b.
accepted as would suffice for the fabrica
tion OF three guns, eight, ten and twelve
inches calibre. These guns were to bt
tested by requiring them to endure
800 discharges in periods of time ranging
from 80 TO 12O minutes. If they failed to
pass the tests, then no more Of the appro
priation was to become available for the
purchase of steel. The objection of the
Senate conferees to this proviso was that
} it would result in leaving the country with
; out guns Tor many years to come, as II
would take at least three or four years to
finish and test specimen guns, and in event
OF their success, as many additional years
to procure others of the same type.
APPROPRIATIONS FOR CURRENT FISCAL YEAR.
The aggregate appropriation bills passed
by the Forty-ninth ongress is about
$3.50, 900, the total is exclusive oi
sums appropriated by the River and Har-
Dor and Deficiency Appropriation bills,
which failed of enactment. The eappropria-
tions for the current fiscal year aggregate
1864, 900 900, which amount would have
equaled the appropriation, voted by the
last Congress had the two bills mentioned
become laws.
HAsTY LEGISLATION.
e Al. = u l.
Forty-ninth Congress wound up it's work
may be found in the declaration of men,
Der who asserted that the record revealed
the fact that one quarter Of the legislation
| of the session had been enacted in the last
legislative days. An enrolling clerk OF
twelve years experience said that never
in that length of time had he witnessed
the haste exhibited in the last
twenty -four hours of the Congress which
had just expired. Enough papers to ill half
a bushel basket, all of them Presidential
vetoes. House bills lay in pile on the
floor OF TIA clerks Office in the House wing
Of the Capitol this morning. They number
1O1 in all.
By recent order of the President the mill
| tary reservation at Fort Colville, Washing
ton Territory, has been transferred to the
lO0pdTUIuSuU VI UuC lOT uIBpOS1GlOu
Ehpder the act Of July s, 1884, it being no
longer usefuff for military purposes.
THE GREAT BL AcKFEET RESERVATION.
An agreement recently concluded between
the West Indian Commission on behalf of
the Government and the Indians of the
Great Blackfeet reservation in Northern
Montana has been received at the Indian
Bureau. By it's terms three separate res
ervations are set apart for permanent
homes of the Indians, one for the Peck
Agency Indians, another for tho Belknap
Agency Indians and the third for the In
dians at Blackfeet agency, each comprising
an area OF about !, 200 square miles, 1say;
ing an area estimated to contain about
II, 100000 acres of territory, about
three times larger than the State
of Maryland, which the Indians ceded to
the United States in consideration of the
following sums: Fort Peck Indians, 81 65,-
900 per annum for ten years; for Fort
Belknap Indians. $115 900 per year for the
same period; for Blackfoot Indians, $780,
900 per annum for ten years. These sums
are to be expended under the direction of
the Secretary of the Interior, in purchase
of stock for breeding purposes, subsistence.
clothing and otherwise Tor the comfort and
civilization of the Indians. 1t ia believed
by the commission that the compensation
agreed upon is fair and equitable, and sui
ficient to place them in position t, speed
lily become self-supporting, and to require
no further government aid.
PRESIDENTIAL PARDoNs.
The President acted on q large number Of
pardon cases yesterday. Norman H.
Camp, convicted of embezzlement and SEN
fenced January, 1886, to five years i'm
prisonment at hard labor in the territorial
prison OF Idaho, and to pay q fine OF
5 900, and stand committed until it shall
be paid. The President granted a pardon
in this case, and indorsed the application
as follows: I'm my opinion there be grave
doubts as to the guilt Of this convict. He
has been imprisoned under his sentence
for more than a year, and his character
prior to conviction, and his surroundings
are, think, a sufficient guaranty of his
future good conduct"
Pardon was also granted in the case OF
Yeying and Helung, who were convicted in
the Eastern District of Arkansas for VIOLA
ton of the internal Revenue tax and SEN
fenced to thirty days confinement and pay
fine of 500. The Presidents indorse-
ment on this was: "If any part OF the SEN
tence in this case remains unexecuted, let
the convicts be pardoned. If not let the
matter remain as it is. The thirty days i'm
prisonment expired long ago. If they are
detained for the fine let that also be remit
ted"
The President also granted pardon in the
case of j. Walden, convicted of
violating the postal laws and sentenced
September 16, 1886, to one year imprison-
ment in the United States Penitentiary
at McNeills Island, Washington Territory.
He indorsed the applications: ''Granted
upon the ground that, owing to the youth
OF the convict and circumstances, / am
confident that the ends OF justice will be as |
we'll subserved by punishment already !
suffered, and the prospects OF the boy as |
we'll secured by the imprisonment -of
months already suffered. as if he were
longer confined in his place of imprison-
ment."
Similar action was taken in the case of
Joseph H. Evans, who was convicted of
polygamy and unlaw full cohabitation and |
sentenced in November, 1884, to five years |
and six months in the Utah penitentiary |
and to pay fine of $25". The President |
indorsed this application as follows:
.'Granted. This convict is nearly 70 years |
old and was convicted OF polygamy and |
unlawful cohabitatien. He has been i'm
prisoned over two years and his pardon |
is prayed for by his legal wife. Though he |
will not promise to obey the law against |
polygamy, yet / am determined that the |
ha ardship If the case shall not be cited to |
show that the Government is inclined to be |
vindictive in it's attempt to e1tirpate the
p.actice of polygamy."
Pardons were granted the following: Al
bert Brotherton, convicted Of conspiracy |
to cast away vessel Of which he was
master and sentenced May 5, 1886. to one |
years imprisonment in the Baltimore jail
and to pay fine Of 81 200; Mrs. Malvina
Klight, violation OF internal revenue laws
in Kentucky.
Pardon was granted in the case Of Oscar
T. Baldwin, convicted of misappropriating
ba,;k funds and making false entries IA
cashier of the Merchants Bank, Newark,
New Jersey, to fifteen years in prison. The
Presidents indorsement was; This con-
Wet has been totally relieved from impris- |
onment upon q writ of ha beas corpus, and |
the only course is to pardon him now and |
tn restore him to his rights as citizen. |
This am entirely willing to do in view Of